King Rama I (1782-1809) wrote his own version of the Ramakien, dividing it into five long episodes. The story begins with the rebirth and incarnations of major characters who seem mostly to come from the celestial realm. The hero of the epic, Phra Ram (Rama), is the incarnation of the deity Phra Narai (Vishnu), who was requested to take a human form by the almighty Phra Isuan (Shiva) in order to vanquish the evil power perpetrated by demons possessed of magical powers. Phra Ram’s lineage on earth is given as well as the founding of the magnificent state of Ayutthaya (Ayodhya) with King Tosarot (Dasaratha), Phra Ram’s earthly father, as its ruler.
Phra Isuan’s loyal gate keeper, Nontuk received magical powers from the deities and, not unlike many who received similar awards, abused it by ruthlessly slaying deities and humans. Nontuk’s gift from Phra Isuan was a jeweled finger that can point death to anyone he wishes to kill. Realizing these evil doings, Phra Narai, at the request of Phra Isuan, tricks Nontuk in pointing a finger at himself causing his own death. Before dying, he pledges vengeance on Phra Narai.
Reborn on earth, Nontuk takes the form of the 10-faced and 20-armed Tosakanth (Ravana), the demon king of the Longka city state. The story then turns to the origin of the monkey race, ruled by the incarnate of deities like Pali, son of Phra Indra (Indra), Sukreep, son of Phra Athit (the sun god), and Hanuman, son of Phra Pai (the wind god), who later becomes Phra Ram’s chief soldier. Monto, who later becomes Tosakanth’s consort, is born on earth around the same time.
Meanwhile, in the city state of Ayutthaya, the benevolent King Tosarot rules beside his three consorts, none of whom have borne him any children. Concerned about his succession, the court hermit offers to perform a special ritual involving divine power for the begetting of sons. Thus occur the royal births of Phra Ram, Phra Prot (Bharat). Phra Lak (Lakshman) and Phra Satarud (Shatrughan). Phra Ram is the incarnate of Phra Narai, Phra Lak is the incarnate of the god’s serpent throne (saga) and conch shell; Phra Prot is the incarnate of his discus, and Phra Satarud the incarnate of his scertre.
Hanuman, enlargeshimself as a bridge across a river for the troops to cross. (Emerald Buddha Temple)
In Longka, Tosakanth’s consort, Monto, gives birth to Sida (Sita), the incarnate of Vishnu’s consort. Pipek, Tosakanth’s brother, who happens to be an astrologer, predicts that Sida will destroy the demon race so Tosakanth places her in a ceramic jar and sets it adrift along a waterway. The infant Sida is later found by King Chanok of the Mithila principality who was at a hermitage nearby.
At the palace in Mithila, Sida grows up to be a beautiful young princess and King Chanok makes plans to find a man worthy of her hand. He announces to city states and principalities far and wide that whosoever can lift the divine bow of Phra Isuan will marry his daughter. The princes of Ayutthaya hear the news while journeying through a forest. Ready for the challenge, Phra Ram leaves for Mithila with four princes. He shows great prowess in lifting the bow to the astonishment and delight of all and is thus awarded the hand of the most beautiful and sought-after princess. King Chanok sends an emissary to invite rulers and their consorts from far and wide to attend the royal wedding. The spectacular matrimonial ritual of Phra Ram’s marriage to Sida is remniscent of the traditional Thai nuptial ceremony which combines Brahmanic rituals with Buddhist prayers.
Now in the city of Keetkin where the monkey king Pali rules, Sukreep, his half brother, is suspected of being treacherous and is banished. Consequently Sukreep joins Phra Ram’s army. In the meantime, at Ayutthaya, King Tosarot decides to hold a coronation ceremony for Phra Ram, his eldest and favorite son. A hunchback maid of one of Phra Ram’s stepmothers, Kaiyaket, who was ridiculed by the young Phra Ram many years earlier, requests Kaiyaket to remind King Tosarot to grant her one wish which he pledged to her many years ago when Kaiyaket had helped him keep the wheel of his chariot from falling apart. Her wish is that the King banish Phra Ram into the forest for 14 years thus paving the way for Phra Prot, her own son, to be crowned instead. Distraught, King Tosarot nevertheless keeps his word and complies with her demand. After an audience with the king, Phra Ram willingly leaves for the forest with Phra Lak and Sida. King Tosarot never recovers from parting with his beloved son and soon passes away. Saddened by the king’s death, Phra Prot, Phra Satarud, and the late king’s consorts implore Phra Ram to return and rule Ayutthaya. But Phra Ram insists that he fulfill his father’s wish in staying away for 14 years.
In Longka, Tosakanth decides to go traveling with his queen, Monto, leaving the kingdom under the care of Chiw-ha, his sister’s husband. After a week’s vigil, Chiw-ha decides to sleep, but he takes preventive measures by transforming into a huge demon and using his tongue to shield Longka. When Tosakanth returns, he cannot find his city and thinks that it has been destroyed by the enemy. In despair, he throws his discus onto the site where Longka once stood. The discus accidentally cuts Chiw-ha’s tongue, immediately killing him. Samanakha, Tosakanth’s sister, and bereaved wife of Chiw-ha, enters the forest to calm herself. She comes near the forest abode of Phra Ram, Phra Lak and Sida. Catching sight of Phra Ram bathing in a pool, she falls in love with him and transforms herself into beautiful woman but her attempts to seduce him are in vain. Infuriated, Samanakha tries to harm Sida but fortunately Phra Lak comes in time and slices off the mouth, ear, nose and feet of the demoness.
The wounded Samanakha journeys to request three of her brothers to take revene on Phra Ram. To her dismay, she finds that the three have already been killed in combat by Phra Ram. Now Samankha becomes even more vengeful. She describes the exquisite beauty of Sida to Tosakanth, persuading him to abduct the fair maiden and make her his consort in Longka. The demon king, unaware that Sida is his own daughter, requests the hermit Mareet to transform himself into a golden deer in order to lure Phra Ram and Phra Lak away and clear the way for Sida’s abduction.
The trick works and the hermit princes follow the golden deer while Tosakanth carries Sida off into the sky towards Longka. Spotting them in the air, the kind bird Sdayu unsuccessfully tries to rescue her from the demon. Tosakanth removes Sida’s magic ring from her finger and throws it at Sdayu, who catches it with its beak and takes it to Phra Ram, telling him about Sida’s abduction before it dies. And now the long search for Sida begins. Phra Ram is offered help by Hanuman, the white monkey who cannot die because the wind god will always revive him.
Meanwhile, in Longka, Tosakanth takes Sida to his garden to woo her but she tries to kill herself. Hanuman arrives in time to help her by presenting to Sida her ring and sabai or decorative cloth. Indrachit, Tosakanth’s son, catches Hanuman and punishes him cruelly. Indrachit has the power to transform into the god Indra, a skill which he learned from the hermit Kobut. However, Hanuman cunningly devises a means to burn Longka and escape. He asks Tosakanth to set him on fire and then runs into every building until the whole city is aflame. Of course, the wind revives Hanuman back to life again.
In Longka, Tosakanth banishes his brother, the demon Pipek, who prophesied that Tosakanth will eventually be killed by Phra Ram. Pipek conswquently joins Phra Ram’s army. Later Tosakanth asks the demoness Benyakai to transform herself into a lifeless Sida. He then carries the transformed Benyakai into a boat where it floats along a waterway towards Phra Ram. The demon king thinks that once Phra Ram is fooled into thinking that Sida has died, he will retreat.
In the meantime, Hanuman’s soldiers build a causeway to Longka. In the battle between Indrachit and Phra Lak, the former offers Tosakanth a ritual to enhance his arrows. During the ritual, Chompuwarat, one of Phra Ram’s chief soldiers, transforms himself into a bear and destroys the tree under which Indrachit is seated.
Tosakanth asks his demon allies, Moon-plum and the latter’s elder brother, Sahasadcha to join the fight against Phra Ram. During the battle, Phra Lak kills Moon-plum while Hanuman tricks the demons by transforming himself into an ordinary white monkey and kills Sahasadecha with a magic club.
In a subsequent battle, Sattasoon makes himself invisible so that he can kill the monkey soldiers. Sattasoon’s nephew, Virunjambang, cannot fight Phra Ram and flees to hide in the ocean foam. Hanuman follows, kills him and brings the demon’s head to Phra Ram. After many battles have been fought and won by Phra Ram’s army with Hanuman as the commander, Phra Ram engages in a single combat with Tosakanth. At long last he succeeds in killing the demon of demons.
At the end of Phra Ram’s 14-year exile, the forest dwellers plead that he return to rule over Ayutthaya. At once Phra Ram tells Hanuman to inform his father’s consorts and his brothers of his intended home coming. At long last, Phra Ram ascends the throne of Ayutthaya which had become greater than ever before with newly-conquered territory. Phra Prot and Phra Satarud are sent to rule the states of Kaiyaket; the monkey warrior Sukreep is sent to rule over Keetkin and Phra Lak stays by his beloved brother’s side, to help rule Ayutthaya. Phra Ram then commissions the founding of Nopburi city and makes Hanuman its ruler.
The cremation of Tosakanth, showing various hun shows taking place in the background. (Emerald Buddha Temple)
After Tosakanth’s death, Pipek ascends the Longka throne but troubles begin to brew when Longka is besieged by King Jakrawat, Tosakanth’s friend and ruler of the Maliwan state. Phra Prot and Phra Satarud are sent to help Pipek. Thereafter ensues the battles at Maliwan where Hanuman helps Phra Prot destroy the two defences of fire and venomous sea water protecting the town. Jakrawat now sends his son Banlaijak into combat but Phra Prot manages to kill him. In the last battle scene, Phra Prot aims his arrow at Jakrawat, killing him instantly. As Jakrawat falls he sees that both princes are incarnates of the god Narai’s weapons and in his last breath, he asks them to pardon him.
 The demoness Adun tricks Sida into a drawing of Tosakanth. (Emerald Buddha Temple)
In a memorable episode, Phra Ram and Sida are relaxing in the forest. While she bathes in the pond, the demoness Adun, Tosakanth’s cousin, envies her beauty and transforms herself into a maid. Adum tricks Sida into drawing the portrait of Tosakanth. Once the picture is drawn, the demoness possesses it and no matter what is done, the portrait cannot be erased. When Phra Ram finds the portrait, he is fooled into thinking that Sida was unfaithful to him during her abduction by Tosakanth. In anger, he orders Phra Lak to take her deep into the forest, kill her, slit her chest and bring her heart back to him. As Phra Lak is about to cut Sida’s throat, a garland appears around her neck to protect her. Seeing this, he lets her go. On the way back, he finds a dead deer which the god Indra left on the path. He cuts it open and takes its heart to Phra Ram. Indra then transforms himself into a buffalo and leads Sida to a hermitage. Here the hermit Watchamareuk builds her a cottage and she later gives birth to Phra Ram’s son, naming him Phra Mongkut. Another boy, Phra Lop is magically created by the hermit to be Phra Mongkut’s playmate and adopted brother. One day, testing their bows and arrows in the forest, Phra Mongkut topples a huge sacred tree with his magic arrow. Hearing the mighty tree fall, Phra Ram appeases the gods by the ritual of releasing his own horse, an ancient rite where a white steed belonging to royalty is elaborately decorated and released to visit the principalities. The people so visited must welcome it with pomp and pageantry. Any town which does not is punished by the accompanying army. Upon seeing the horse, Phra Mongkut tries to mount him. Hanuman tries to stop him but is caught and tied up by Phra Mongkut and Phra Lop. Sida gives Phra Lop her magic ring and with the help of a celestial being, goes to the aid of her son who manages to escape to the forest. Phra Ram, who at this is not aware that Phra Mongkut is his own son, goes after the two boys and forces them to fight against each other. Since their celestial weapons cannot harm one another, Phra Ram realizes that Phra Mongkut is his own son.
To prove that she did not betray Phra Ram, Sida decides to walks on fire. As she step onto the burning flames, a lotus rises to hold and protect her. Assured that Sida never betrayed him, Phra Ram thinks of a way to lure her back to Ayutthaya. He pretends to be dead and then orders Hanuman to inform Sida. When Sida comes to pay homage to his body, Phra Ram opens his eyes to see her in her grief. Realizing the trick, she prays to mother earth to make way for her to descend into the underworld of the Naga King.When Pipek sees the grief-stricken Phra Ram, he tells him to roam the forests in penitence for one year, which he does accompanied by Phra Lak, Hanuman, and a monkey army led by Sukreep. In the forest the royal brothers and their entourange have many victorious battles over the demons. On their return to Ayutthaya, Phra Isuan reunites Phra Ram and Sida on Mount Sumeru. They return together to Ayutthaya.In the last episode, the demon Kontam captures the town of Kaiyaket belonging to Phra Prot’s maternal grandfather. Phra Ram sends Phra Prot, Phra Satarud, Phra Mongkut and Phra Lop to recapture the town.
A eulogy to King Rama I ends this version of the Ramakien, dated 1791 AD.
References
Thai Puppets & Khon Masks. (1984) . Thailand . English translation : Promporn Pramualratana
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